Colorado High School Athlete Dies After Flu-Like Symptoms Turn Out to Be the Plague

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Taylor Gaes, a Poudre High School quarterback and pitcher, died suddenly on Monday, June 9, 2015. He is seen in an image posted to a GoFundMe to raise money for his family.

A 16-year-old boy in Colorado who appeared to have the common flu has died from a rare case of the plague, officials said.

Taylor Gaes’ illness didn’t present with the telltale sign of the infection – swollen lymph nodes – which would have alerted officials to the illness sooner, said Katie O’Donnell, a Larimer County Health Department spokeswoman.

Instead, he suffered from a fever and muscle aches, which at first made his sickness look like the flu.

The plague is “very rare, which makes it hard to diagnose,” O’Donnell said Saturday. Taylor died June 8 but officials revealed his illness Friday.